Food 4 Less Invests in Solar to Save 97% of Annual Utility Bill at Lathrop Dry Storage Location
JKB Energy and Food 4 Less franchisee, PAQ, Inc., have partnered to protect Northern California’s environment and keep operating costs low — a savings reflected in the chain’s competitive prices.
Turlock-based JKB Energy has completed a solar installation at the Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel dry storage warehouse location in Lathrop and is in the process of completing two additional projects at a Food 4 Less store in Stockton and a Rancho San Miguel store in Madera.
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“Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel is pushing the envelope with their environmentally friendly practices by installing three roof-top installations,” says Bob Hansen, JKB Energy’s vice president, and general manager.
John Quinn, CEO, and Owner of PAQ, Inc, has decided to pursue solar for his Food 4 Less and Rancho San Miguel locations as an effort to lower utility bills and to keep costs in line for customers. The first installation, a roof-mounted structure for the Lathrop dry storage facility, takes advantage of the facility’s ample roof space. The facility currently uses over 600,000 kWh per year, but the new installation will cut 97 percent of the cold storage unit’s utility bill through solar-generated power. In fact, the solar installation will pay for itself within 3 years.
Food 4 Less/Rancho San Miguel uses an average of 2 million kWh at the Madera and Stockton-Hammer Lane store locations. “We don't have enough roof space to offset all of our demand,” says Food 4 Less CFO Bill Cote. “However, we are able to offset a substantial enough portion of our utility bill — by 11 to 17 percent — with the limited amount of roof space we do have. The payoff will be a little longer for our grocery store locations than with the warehouse, but it’s worth it.”
The environmental benefits are tremendous. For the Lathrop location alone, the 295 kW system is estimated to offset the equivalent of the following over the next 25 years:
16,495,360 lbs of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas
52,934 lbs of NOx, which creates smog
47,918 lbs of S02, which causes acid rain
3,260 lbs of particulates that cause asthma
26,839,596 miles driven in an average car